A few months ago, I put up an Instagram post asking who you might want to hear from in Season Two of Art For Your Ear. Well, I got a lot of great suggestions. I also got “HEATHER DAY!” about a zillion times. Ok, ok! I heard you, and I got her … San Francisco based painter, traveler, nature-lover Heather Day is on the podcast!

First things first, I suggest pausing the podcast, watching this video from the home page of Heather’s site, then coming back to hear the rest. This one minute and nineteen seconds gives such insight into the way Heather works. Now, do your best to only watch once or twice, because you have a podcast to listen to!

Isn’t that mesmerizing? And doesn’t it make you want to pour paint on something right now!? Yeah, me too.

Up next, the insane augmented reality project Heather just did with Facebook:

Ah-mazing … the work, not to mention her story about the letter she had written, but not sent, to Mark Zuckerberg! Oh Universe, you’re so crazy.

Now, when her paintings aren’t on a bare wall at Facebook HQ, they are on both canvas and paper. Here are a few of my faves from Heather’s beautiful portfolio:

Gorgeous! Speaking of which, brace yourself for these images of her travels. Sketchbooks filled with abstract inspiration, and even full size pieces that she paints outside … sometimes in “inconvenient spots along rivers”:

I know, right? I’d pour paint {or draw with smelly markers} in there anytime! And that’s that… such an amazing hour filled with so many topics. Thanks so much to all of you who asked me to reach out to Heather, and thanks to Heather for saying YES; as always a big thank you to Saatchi Art for supporting the podcast, and of course, thanks to you for showing up and listening! There will be more Art For Your Ear next weekend.

What? Oh my goodness… none of my paper looks like this. This is the absolutely lovely work of Dutch animator turned artist Vera van Wolferen. These pieces are part of an installation, titled “Plant Life”, that is currently showing in Porto, Portugal in one of the city’s oldest bookstores – Livraria Lello. Clearly, if you’re anywhere near Porto you have to go see these beauties in person. Oh, but before you do, I have to share part of the email Vera sent me… I love this:

“During my study in Fine Arts I was in the sculpture department, and kept making videos of my sculptures. That’s why I went to do animation, cause everyone said – hey you should make your sculptures move! So I did stop motion for a year, but figured out I was most interested in creating the set design, lighting and photographing the sets… not so much the animation part of it. I now focus on making “Story Objects”, sculptures that are vehicles for the imagination of the viewer. It feels like the objects contain a story, but it up to you to create your own.”

Paper, maps, paint and pins all living together as a delicate, intricate, important narrative. This is the gorgeous, mind-boggling work of Fidencio Fifield-Perez. He was born in Mexico and grew up in the USA. After graduating from art school, he has focused on creating these beautiful, intricate, paper-cutting mixed media pieces. How do I know this? Well, I got an amazing email from a woman that runs the galleries and visiting artist lecture program at his alma mater. She wanted to make sure people knew about Fidencio’s work, and his very important/timely story:

“… Last semester I hosted an exhibit of paintings and cut paper installations made by one of our alumni, Fidencio Fifield-Perez. Fidencio is a DACA recipient, and has spent his life as an artist advocating for fellow undocumented residents and making gorgeous, pointed artworks about his experience living undocumented in the United States … Some of his most poignant works are made from appropriated, painted maps. He cuts away the “real” things the map represents- land, water, cities, people- and leaves the imagined, the drawn- roads, latitudes, boarders. Is this mud? A field to be harvested? A body of water to be crossed? Fence, net, or viscera? Every piece is meticulously cut and pinned to the wall with red map pins.”

Beautiful. The world needs more artists like Fidencio, and more people who send this kind of email.

Gasp! Painted paper-cut pieces … GORGEOUS. This is the latest body of, always elegant and slightly bizarre, work by Hong Kong born, Vancouver raised, and now Berlin based artist Andrea Wan. All of her work is fantastic, but this latest series took my breath away. Oh, and I highly recommend following her on Instagram, because her work in progress shots are absolutely beautiful and totally inspiring. In fact, I’m heading into the studio to put some paint on that scary black paper I’ve been avoiding.

Hot summer in the city – I can smell these paintings from here! Yep, a fine blend of overripe fruit, damp cardboard, and cigarettes. Ahhh, makes me miss the days when I lived at Queen & Spadina … kinda. This is the memory-inducing work {gouache on paper} of Toronto based artist Caitlyn Murphy. Happy Friday… and don’t forget to buy your watermelon in the morning before it gets too hot!

Who needs regular old art supplies when you can just cut up money to make your collages! Yep, American artist Mark Wagner has been slicing and dicing American currency for years. My favorite series is titled “Washington at Large”. Why? Well according to Mark, “It’s only natural that Washington’s “Head of State” should grow a body and start walking around and doing stuff.” I absolutely agree. Also, I really love that George is out there mowing all that green {see what I did there?}. Here is more about Mark and his reasons for cutting up thousands of dollars every year:

Mark Wagner is best known for his intricate collages made entirely from deconstructed US dollars. Wagner destroys thousands of bills yearly to create works which pointedly and playfully explore the intersection of wealth, power, value, and American identity. Wagner’s audacious (and unlawful) destruction of this revered icon of American commerce is checked only by his virtuoso material manipulation, which renders what you will… portraits, plant life, fantastical beasts, or allegorical scenes recasting George Washington in every roll.

Wagner’s artwork is an entry point to a conversation extending far beyond the art world. Decades dedicated to destroying banknotes has provided Wagner with a unique perspective on the nature of money. Modern man’s obsession with finance and our wistful attempts to tame it through economics belies money’s emotional, mercurial… even fictional nature. Wagner addresses these issues in writing, lecture, and interview as eloquently as he does through his artwork.

Well, this gives “nature-inspired” a whole new meaning! These weird and whimsical pieces are the hand-cut collages of Denver based artist Marie Conigliaro. They’re from her latest series, titled very appropriately, “Anatomical”. Wouldn’t it be amazing if that’s what was actually going on in there… well, minus the cactus. Ouch.

{Check out her shop. Marie’s prints are insanely inexpensive… so much so that I feel the need to tell her to put her prices WAY up, but I’ll mind my own business. Kinda.}

Ok, I’m a little bit scared… I think the call might be coming from inside the house! Eeeee! Luckily, nothing is going to jump out of the darkness because these are not movie stills, they’re part of a series of stunning airbrush on paper paintings. Really. These cinematic gems are the work of Spanish painter {yes, I need to reiterate that these are paintings}Hugo Alonso. Here are a few words from the Galerie Youn site about Hugo’s work:

… Alonso lets us be seduced by the uncertain, in his own words, by a “hole behind a painting that one can approach so as to peer at that which seems far off to us in a strange manner, with a disturbing familiarity”. Hugo Alonso does not just work on deconstructing the processes of accessing painting but also the logic of the cinema and its elements ‘setting, plan, set dressing’ which he reorganizes in order to show new links to fiction, to a certain extent calling up the phantasmagorical.

Hm, I don’t know how to write this post without sounding like a trouble-maker. Oh well, here it goes … these lovely nighttime paintings on paper remind me of sneaking out in high school… sorry, Mom. Ahh, the fresh summer night air, crickets chirping, and a dash of small town teenage rebellion thrown in for good measure. I’m not entirely sure this is what American artist Christopher Burk meant to conjure up with this series, but that’s exactly where my mind went when I saw his work. {ps. if you’re a teenager, please don’t sneak out!}

Sigh… these lovely drawings make me exhale. Perfect for a Friday. This is the work of California based artist/illustrator Liana Jegers. I love her simple color palette, those lovely lines, and the subjects she chooses. Her portfolio if filled with gorgeous work, zines, client collaborations … but these “farmers market” inspired pieces are my favorites. Here’s to a weekend filled with fresh fruit and fragrant flowers. Exhale.